A two-term incumbent who is Ulster County’s first comptroller hopes to be re-elected, but a challenger questions his abilities.

Ulster County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach touted his record when outlining why voters should return him to office.

He noted the dismissal of the head of the Ulster County Health Department following audits by his office.

And Auerbach said the role that his office played in a separate, wider investigation that resulted in the arrest and conviction of a City of Kingston police detective showed the effectiveness of his tenure.

“I believe that we have a tremendous amount of work yet to do,” said Auerbach, an Ellenville resident, former three-term Ellenville mayor and former executive director of the Rural Economic Area Partnership. “We see the opportunity to pull back the curtain on government and take a look behind and see if we are operating in the most effective ways.”

Auerbach and his opponent, Linda A. McDonough of Lake Katrine, are running for a four-year term. The position pays $102,000 annually.

Auerbach, 61, is running on the Democratic and Working Families lines.

McDonough, 56, is running on the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines.

McDonough has never held elected office. But she worked as a deputy auditor for Ulster County prior to the creation of the comptroller’s office and has 38 years of accounting and auditing experience.

“I have the auditing experience to do the job,” she said. “I understand the whole process and the importance of the documentation and the paper trails.”

McDonough criticized Auerbach for failing to properly file reports.

And she blamed him for incorrect payments made to former employees in the wake of Ulster County’s sale of Golden Hill Health Care Center.

“This is where she has a misunderstanding of the office,” Auerbach said. “I think she’s a little confused.”